Published on 1er may
Do people know that teachers risk disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal, if they reveal to the general public the shortcomings and slippages of their school or service center (CSS)?
Sonia Bahl, teacher
The least we can say is that a large number of teachers were stung by the words of Gregory Charles published in our pages last week.
Mr. Charles was interviewing our colleague Alexandre Pratt, who wanted to talk to him about the differences between his different cohorts of students in music and voice over the years. Sports columnist, Alexandre Pratt had done the same exercise with coaches sportsmen. During the discussion, Gregory Charles shared some of his proposals for our education system.
This interview provoked a veritable tidal wave of reactions. One of the most frequent: “Let’s leave it up to the experts, the teachers, to find solutions to the ills of the education system. They are the ones who know the reality of the schools. However, we never listen to them enough. »
This criticism is often heard from teachers. The latter have the impression that their expertise is not considered at its fair value. That their voice is not heard. And this is all the more true, they say, since the adoption of Bill 40 (An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance) which was adopted under gag order in February 2020, without the teachers being consulted.
Mme Bahl writes to us that teachers do not have the right to speak publicly. However, in the pages of the newspapers, The Press and elsewhere, teachers are often given the floor. We recount their successes in reports, we interview them, we present their points of view and those of their unions. So what’s wrong?
In fact, it seems that their freedom of speech is variable.
Take the case of Sylvain Dancause, a mathematics and science teacher in the Quebec region. Mr. Dancause maintains a blog in addition to signing a column in the pages of the Montreal Journal and Quebec newspaper. It can also be heard on QUB Radio. He did not have to obtain permission from his superiors to express his opinions, but he recognizes that not all of his colleagues enjoy the same freedom.
In fact, most teachers remain very cautious when speaking publicly. Some even hesitate to “like” a status on Facebook for fear of reprisals. It is said that some school service centers (CSS) as well as school principals are particularly controlling, others less so.
There are no regulations that prevent teachers from speaking up to talk about education. On the other hand, there is one that imposes a duty of loyalty to their employer.
Is this excessive as a regulation? We could point out that this is the way in most companies, that we cannot denounce what is happening internally in the public square. But the teachers are state employees in the service of the population. Some of them are therefore very reluctant to not be able to alert public opinion when something is wrong in their workplace.
Before COVID, Sonia Bahl had therefore launched a petition in favor of freedom of expression for teachers, a non-partisan approach, she insists, born in the wake of the adoption of Bill 40. Two years later, as we slowly emerge from the pandemic, the teacher has taken up the torch. Basically, she asks that the duty of loyalty required of teachers not interfere with their right to speak when it is exercised in the public interest. The petition, sponsored by the MP for Joliette, Véronique Hivon, will be in circulation until May 21.
For his part, teacher Sylvain Dancause and a group of colleagues are working on setting up a professional teachers’ association that would give them a voice as pedagogues. “We have unions to represent us as workers, but we want to express ourselves as education professionals on educational issues,” he explains.
As we can see, teachers have things to say and would like to be able to say them freely. This explains, in part, their strong reaction to the words of Gregory Charles. They do not question his right to speak. But they would like to be able to express themselves too. With reason. In 2018, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, pledged to “break the law of silence” in the education sector. The teachers are still waiting.